A vast mosque designed to rival the world's greatest Muslim places of worship is being built on Algeria's northern coast. What's behind such an ambitious undertaking?

Halfway along the gentle curve of the Bay of Algiers, a sprawling complex of buildings is slowly rising from the ground.

At one end will be the domed prayer room of the Great Mosque of Algiers. At the other, the world's tallest minaret will tower 265m (870ft) into the sky. There will be a koranic school, a library and a museum, and terraces and gardens scattered with fruit trees.

Visitors will arrive by car, tram, and even by boat. The complex, with space for 120,000 people, will be connected to a marina on the Mediterranean by two panoramic walkways.

The mosque will be the world's third biggest by area, according to the architects, and the largest in Africa.

It's a way of hiding the little mosques and marginalising them
Kamel Chachoua, Institute of Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim World

"It's one of the projects of the century," said Ouarda Youcef Khodja, a senior official at the ministry of housing and urban planning, during a visit to the construction site.

She said that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika wanted the mosque as a "monument to Islam and to the martyrs of the Algerian revolution" - the war of independence from France. But it is also meant to be a signal for the future. "This monument will be a point of reference for the current revolution - the revolution of the development of Algeria.".......Read more

Originally scheduled to open in 2011 and since plagued with several delays, construction of the world's third largest mosque should now be on track for completion by the end of the year, following a sudden influx of builders from Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The Djamaa El Djazair mosque, designed by German firm KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten, will be oriented towards the Bay of Algiers and serve as a legacy project of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.